Artist of the Week

Artist: Daniel MawsonArtform: Musician

What do you do and what are your main focuses?Broadly speaking I'm a musician. In some contexts I would call myself a performer and composer, but I don't fit neatly into either box. I almost cringe saying it like that because it often feels like I'm saying 'look how alternative and special I am', but it's really not that at all; quite the opposite, it often manifests as a 'jack of all trades: master of none' feeling... musically, I feel most at home improvising, which is something that bridges the performer-composer divide.

When I compose, my favourite medium is electronic/electro-acoustic/acoustmatic music. At the moment, a literal sense of place and narrative is something I like to present (talking, recognisable found sounds).

In all, I think my best work comes from collaboration with others; the back and forth of ideas, whether it be in a live performance contexts, devising with a group of musicians in a practice room, or working to a brief as part of a larger project. Complete creative freedom feels more like chaos to me.

​​Where have you studied?I studied at the University of Manchester, focusing mainly on composition and musicology, and pursued a Musicology Masters there after my undergraduate. However, I have the privilege of returning there to teach on the Level 2 world music ensemble performance module in September... you never know what's going to come, or where your studies will get you in the music world.

Please tell us a bit about your piece 'Pop!'Pop! is an example of how I like to retain and heighten the source sounds for composition (only a balloon and a balloon pump). Even though my current favouring of a narrative element is less obvious, Pop! represents the compositional method I find the most effective. I always have 3 elements: mood/sense of space, an imaged narrative, and a graphic representation; they usually happen in that order, as they did with this piece, after some experimentation with recording and play with the sounds.

With this piece I imagined an empty box room with an observer getting gradually overwhelmed by multiplying balloons melt together to trap the observer inside; (spoiler alert) they escape and then the balloon explodes. I like esoteric concepts but don't expect audiences to necessarily interpret them in the same way; mostly the concepts serve as a framework for me to write something that someone (hopefully) finds interesting or whimsical at the moment they hear it.

Why do you create music?I honesty don't know. In a glib way, it is because someone asks me to, or asks me to be involved in a concert or group, or a composition opportunity arises; innate belief in my musical voice is something that I don't think I'll ever have. If I were to compose for 'the sake' of composition, I don't think anything would ever be finished or be heard by anyone because it would never be right; the deadlines and commitment help... a more functional approach to creating means people actually get to hear what I have to say. In this way, I also tend to create music that fits specifically into the concert/performance itself, such as drawing on ideas, music, sounds they would have heard previously; this often means my work doesn't make as much sense out of context, which I'm fine with.

When I compose, I try and focus on what the audience will most respond to; I think it's all about how the audience feels with their interpretation being as valid as mine to some extent.

​Who are you influenced by?Based on my recent work, I think I have been subconsciously influenced by the aesthetics of sampling where a piece of sonic material is presented in way where much of the 'objective' sonic quality is retained or even heightened, but the context around it is shifted. Encounters in the Republic of Heaven, a piece by Trevor Wishart, is something that stuck with me when I heard a part of it at the MANTIS festival a few years ago. The way he told stories and manipulated the human voice in an electroacoustic medium was inspiring and moving.

I also like to think that there are elements of minimalism in my work because Steve Reich is my hero...it's probably more accurate to say that there are sections of the music that could form part of a minimalist piece, but the temptation to zap the audience to another idea is usually too tempting.

On a good day it could be called eclectic and in-the-moment, on a bad day: a hodge-podge.

What are you afraid of?Feedback...both kinds.

What challenges have you set for yourself?I would love to write music for a film, game, or show. It's been a New Year's Resolution for about 3 years...

What advice would you give to anyone wanting to be a composer?Don't box yourself into a niche too much. I've known so many excellent performers who say they are a composer and 'used to be' a performer, and vise versa; it's a shame for the art world. You don't have to choose one or the other. It helps to have variety, especially when you have dry spells, which almost every creative has. Some people might say to focus and hone one particular skill and do that, but I think that's too much commitment if you have a fragile ego or crippling self-doubt; it's fewer pieces to pick up if you fail...

Anything interesting coming up soon?On 18th May I'm premiering a piece that explores the themes of dawn, dusk and transition in Salford (https://www.facebook.com/events/2051298988231069/​). It draws on recorded archive stories of local people, field recordings at dawn in Salford back streets, and synthesised sounds. At the same time I'm co-producing an electronic gay rom-com musical (@guythemusical). Also check out the monthly GenreFluid Chamber Music nights I run as part of Classical Evolution at Night & Day Cafe!